Natural Remedies For the Common Cold

For those of us in colder climates, many of us have already battled the common cold this season. Though generally not a serious illness for those who’re otherwise healthy, the common cold can be a nuisance.

Keep reading to find out some natural cold remedies that have been evaluated in randomized controlled trials.

What Are the Symptoms of the Common Cold?

Typically symptoms of the common cold include: sore throat, cough, sneezing, running nose, headache, fatigue, and a low-grade fever. The symptoms of the common cold tend to last for around a week.

How Do You Get Sick?

Since colds are caused by more than 100 different viruses, antibiotics are ineffective for treating the common cold though physicians sometimes prescribe them to treat secondary bacterial infections (bronchitis, pneumonia).

Tips to Prevent Catching a Cold?

Though there’s no 100% reliable way of preventing colds, you can reduce your risk by washing your hands regularly, eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, getting regular exercise, sleep, and limiting your stress levels. In addition to these common measures, there’s also some herbs and vitamins that may also be effective natural cold remedies.

Lifestyle Treatments for the Common Cold:

Make sure that you drink plenty of water to stay hydrated and to loosen mucus

Hot beverages – studies suggest that hot beverages can help to temporarily relieve some of the symptoms of colds such as sore throat, cough, and runny nose.

Get plenty of rest – It’s important to avoid complications and to restore your energy levels.

Continue to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables to maintain a healthy diet.

Natural or Herbal Remedies for the Common Cold

Grade: A (Strong Scientific Evidence)

1. Wash your hands frequently

Washing your hands obviously won’t help cure your cold, but frequent hand washing serves two purposes–If you’re already sick, it prevents you from spreading the cold virus to others and if you’re not then it helps reduce your risk of catching a cold.

2. Andrographis paniculata

Unlike Zinc nasal swabs, Andrographis is an herbal remedy that I would recommend. In the past, I formulated a cold and flu product that contained Andrographis in addition to other ingredients. I’ve personally tried andrographis as well and found it to be effective at reducing nasal congestion and sneezing, in particular.

Andrographis when combined with Siberian Ginseng (Eleutherococcus senticosus) has been shown to reduce cold symptoms in one study[1]. As well, another study found that it reduced symptoms and complications in those with influenza infections.

Grade: B (Fair to Good Scientific Evidence)

1. Vitamin C

Vitamin C has long been regarded as a potential cure for the common cold. Nobel Prize Winner, Linus Pauling, first extolled the benefits of mega dose supplementation with vitamin C. However, the current evidence that vitamin C can cure the common cold is lacking.

Despite this, there are some studies that suggest that vitamin C supplementation may be beneficial for reducing the duration of colds (about a day) and also preventing colds [2] in athletes exposed to extreme environments (such as cross-country skiers).

2. Probiotics (lactobacillus)

Some preliminary studies suggest that probiotics containing lactobacillus strains may be beneficial in preventing people from acquiring the common cold and may also reduce the severity of cold symptoms in children [3,4].

3. N-acetyl cysteine – NAC

N-acetyl cysteine is a potent antioxidant that has been used for several years to treat various lung conditions such as bronchitis due to its expectorant or mucolytic properties.

In one study, the researchers found that daily supplementation with 600 mg n-acetyl cysteine tablets reduced the infection rate of influenza like symptoms as well as severity of symptoms in elderly patients.

4. Echinacea

Echinacea has been a somewhat controversial herb used to prevent and treat symptoms of the common cold. Evidence for the efficacy of Echinacea purpera (typical dose of 300 mg take 3 times per day) tends to oscillate back and forth between being effective and ineffective. Overall, it appears that there’s some evidence that Echinacea may be effective [5].

7. Garlic (Allium Sativa)

Garlic’s long been known to have some antimicrobial properties. One study found that regular supplementation with garlic capsules reduced the risk of catching the common cold. Data from this study is limited, of course.

If you’re considering taking garlic supplements, keep in mind a few things. First, they can cause garlic breath which is unpleasant. Secondly, garlic supplements should be avoided in those who take blood-thinners since it can increase your risk of bleeding.

8. Vitamin D

Research suggests that low levels of vitamin D are associated with an increased risk of upper respiratory infections [6]. In fact, declining levels of vitamin D during the winter months is one of the recent hypothesis for the increasing incidence of colds and the flu during winter months [7].

Recently, vitamin D recommendations have increased to 600 IU/day for most Adults and 800 IU/day for the elderly (follow the link for more details).

9. Elderberry (Sambucus Nigra)

Elderberry has been studied for its potential role in shortening the duration of the flu. As well, it potentially helps with lessening congestion.

Grade c: (Unclear or Conflicting Evidence)

1. Zinc

Though zinc is required for your immune system to function properly, the clinical trial data supporting the use of zinc (lozenges or nasal sprays) is unreliable at best. What’s more is that large doses of zinc (>50 mg/d over a long period) can be dangerous.

Zicam®, a popular cold remedy which contains zinc, has settled lawsuits in the past from people complaining that they lost their sense of smell (anosmia) from the use of various Zicam® nasal swabs and gels (containing zinc).

2. Siberian Ginseng – Eleutherococcus senticosus

Both Siberian and American Ginseng are often referred to as ‘adaptogens’ with putative benefits in adapting to stress. As above, Siberian Ginseng has been studied in combination with Andrographis – one study showed that when taken within 72 hours of the onset of a cold, the combination was effective at significantly improving the symptoms of the common cold.

3. American Ginseng – Panax quinquefolium

There’s at least some evidence that doses of 400 mg per day of American Ginseng may reduce both the risk of catching the cold as well as reducing the severity of symptoms.

If you like spending money, you can go out and buy some ColdFx® which simply contains panax quinquefolium. Nothing more. Though their marketing slogan is “Stops cold and flu in its tracks” and they additionally claim that it “strengthens the immune system,” the clinical trial data they provide is of dubious value at best. The problems with the methodology of their widely touted studies has been critiqued in a the journal, Canadian Family Physician: Does Cold-Fx work?:

There are no published data with clinical end points using COLD-fX for the treatment of cold and flu.

When taken for 4 months to prevent colds and flu, COLD-fX might decrease the number of colds by 0.25 colds/person among adults who had had more than 2 colds in the previous year. However, the clinical relevance of this decrease is unknown.

At this time, data are insufficient to recommend the routine use of COLD-fX.

4. Astragalus

Though not particularly well studied compared to some of the other herbal options, there was a fairly recent study that found astragulus was beneficial in improving symptoms of rhinorrhea in patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis [10].

Dose: 80 mg of Astragalus membranaceus (AM) root extract as an active ingredient per capsule – standardized to contain 40% of polysaccharides. 2 capsules two times per day (in the study cited above).

5. Chamomile –

continue reading to find out if Cold-Fx actually works…

Does Cold-Fx Work?

As above, Cold-Fx is a product used by thousands of Canadians during the winter months. Why wouldn’t you take something that’s relatively safe that’s widely touted to strengthen your immune system and stop the cold and flu in its tracks? After all, it is clinically proven after all, right?

Well, there’s science and then there’s this…

Study 1: Cold-Fx in Community dwelling seniors

Let’s take a look at the first publication (McElhaney JE et al, 2006). Basically, this study included 43 volunteers over the age of 65 who were randomized to either placebo or Cold-Fx during the winter months in Edmonton (read flu season). Of note, the Journal of Complementary and Alternative medicine in which this study was published, is widely regarded of questionable quality.

In terms of group characteristics, the Cold-Fx group had a male: female ratio of 8:13 vs. 13:9 in the placebo group, so the Cold-fx group was largely comprised of men vs. the placebo group which was largely comprised of women.

Next, the subjects randomized to take Cold-Fx or placebo were to do so for a duration of 4 months. After the first month both groups were given the flu vaccine.

All outcome measures were based on self-reported symptoms and subject to recall bias. Further, because the patients neither visited a doctor nor had any laboratory tests, there’s really no way of knowing whether or not they had the common cold or the flu.

Despite these metholodological limitations, there were no differences between Cold-Fx users and placebo after 2 months.

However:

“During this second half of the study, COLD-fX treatment reduced the relative risk of respiratory symptoms by 48%.”

During the first half of the study, there was actually more reported respiratory tract illness (not statistically significant) among Cold-Fx users. What’s more is that relative risk is statistic often used to sensationalize data to make it sound significant. As well, they conveniently disregarded the first 2 months of their own study data to make the above statement. If you include the data for the first two months of their study, by my calculation the absolute risk reduction is about 9% among Cold-Fx users and not likely statistically significant.

Why is relative risk misleading?

“Relative risk appears to be a mechanism used to exaggerate differences between two groups. Obviously, a 100% increased (relative) risk is far more startling than a 0.1% increase in (absolute) risk…”

You don’t need a PhD in statistics to see that claiming that Cold-Fx reducing the relative risk of acute respiratory tract illness by 48% compared to placebo is just a blatant misrepresentation of the above data.

“However, there were also flaws in this study: reliance on self-reporting of symptoms, the Jackson cold definition was modified and used in a non-validated manner, and no laboratory data were collected. Without diagnostic confirmation from the laboratory, it was unknown whether patients had the common cold or influenza because patients were at risk for both; this further invalidates the chosen scoring system, because the Jackson score was developed using a rhinovirus challenge (ie, for colds, not flu). In addition, even if the scoring system were valid, the clinical relevance of this difference of 0.25 fewer colds per person over 4 months is unknown.”

Bottom Line

The bottom line is that the evidence for herbal supplements or natural remedies for preventing and treating the common cold and flu are not yet entirely conclusive.

Personally, I get a yearly flu vaccine and I take 2000 IU of vitamin D during the winter months since I live in a cold climate. In addition to lifestyle interventions and other common measures, regular supplementation with Vitamin C (though not a mega doses) along with taking Andrographis (if you can find a reliable source).

15 thoughts on “Natural Remedies For the Common Cold”

I enjoyed your post exploring some natural remedies for the treatment of colds. While I think most people would consider Vitamin C I also think most people wouldn’t think about garlic or Vitamin D. Great post!

nice tips Jarret,
as you said in the first para, a healthy person is less likely to suffer. but anyway, i try my best to stay safe, after all, good sleep, exercise, eating vegetables and fruits is surely in our hands.

You mentioned a long list of herbal options, not all of them will be easily available, but will surely try the vitamins C and D which should not be hard to get.

There is no vaccine for the common cold. You can be vaccinated against influenza, which is what I assume you meant to say, but flu vaccine won’t stop you catching a cold. Washing hands with soap and hot water frequently and after all personal or social contact is the best way to keep cold viruses out of your system. Oh, one more thing, zinc can, it seems, shorten the time one suffers symptoms, but zinc supplements by virtue of the way zinc is extracted do contain trace levels of cadmium, so don’t over do it with those.

David, I never indicated that the flu vaccine has any effect on preventing the common cold. I simply said as above that I choose to get the flu vaccine on a yearly basis. Zinc is not something I would recommend though it’s quite popular in the United States. Thanks for the head’s up about possible contamination with cadmium in zinc cold remedies.

Winter season is here and sometimes we call it cold season as well. Most of us catch colds during winter season, that’s why we need a doses of Vitamin C, eat healthy foods and good rest. It’s a need to have annual vaccinations, too. “Prevention is better than a pound of cure.”

Jarret;
Thanks for sharing this info.
In the past I have used a mixture of minced garlic, echinacea and honey made into a paste to relieve cold symptoms which worked very well for my family. A teaspoon taken at bedtime with a glass of water has cut short symptoms for us and has kept other family members from getting sick. Theflavor isn’t pleasant, but it does help. Prepare the paste with equal parts of the ingredients and store in tightly sealed glass jar in the cupboard or fridge.

Does Cold-Fx interact with coumadin (Warfarin)? I was reading something about that the other day. My dad’s on coumadin and he was thinking about taking cold-fx. Sounds like a bad idea if it doesn’t even work.